“Is that so?” Rowan asked with a warm voice.

Revvel ran her hand through the mass of feathers on her head, straightening it back into a hair-like shape. It was clear she had taken meticulous care in creating her character.

Her silver crown of feathers flowed from her scalp down over her shoulders. From behind her ears grew another set of additionally long fluffy strands that hovered over the rest like ribbons made of the finest silk. And crystal-clear blue eyes stared from below a sharp brow.

The corners of her jaw were smoothly rounded and flowed elegantly into her porcelain white neck. The subset of bird-kin she had chosen had a human mouth, which in her case was lined with soft rosy lips. Only her tong, which Icid could only catch the occasional glimmer off, seemed to have an unsettling curl to it.

After a bit of contemplation, Revvel leaned back in her chair and continued.

“I mean that is obvious right?

Scha’vun is notoriously well guarded when it comes to their guild items. And you are telling me that these low tier shmucks obtained one of their pact rings?

I mean, what rarity tier is a Capra even? That must be minus two unlisted or worse right? The day I trust people that roll characters like that, is the day you can put me under the ground. These guys are swindlers, plain and simple.”

The veterans sunk back in their chair deflated and now eyed Rowan angrily.

Icid took a quick look into Revvel’s eyes. She knew that expression too well.

A porcelain princess and her posse, deciding that the new guy was not welcome. Like a school bully ousting the fat kid from her group. Revvel did not need to know if her statement was accurate, only the intent of the words mattered.

The princess leaned a little closer till her shoulder rested against one of the veterans. A gnawing discomfort started running through Icid body. She did not want this fight, she had lost it too many times already.

Countless new schools, countless new beginnings, countless new opportunities. In the chaos of a newly forming social structures, it is easier to get drawn into a group. There is safety in belonging, there is safety in numbers. Being part of someone 'posse' protects you from both those within and those outside the order. The black sheep, the loner, or the outsider on the other hand, is fair game for anyone to harass.

She had gotten into a group a couple of times, by licking the boots of other porcelain princesses, as seemed customary for those on the bottom of the social ladder. But it never lasted long, she was always the weak link. And the day would come they would stare at her with those eyes.

She was out, no longer wanted, to be eaten by the wolves.

Cold sweat formed, she wanted to disappear, to go anywhere else. She tugged Rowans indicating she wanted to leave. But Rowan just sat there, returning the veteran’s gazes with a pleasant smile.

Slowly the game crawled back into motion, every call or fold interrupted by a smattering of menial conversation. Jack turned over three cards on the table, causing someone to raise the stakes by 15 Ƒ.

Then an unexpected and wavy voice asked a question.

“Can I have a look?” Rid mumbled, while still staring at the ring.

“Sure Lad, go ahead. But please be careful with it.” Rowan answered.

Rid spun it around in his fingers a couple of times and finally held it against some candlelight while inspecting the crystal.

“Well, if it is a fake, it has me beat. It fits the descriptions I have read perfectly. Both the soulstone and the craftsmanship seem authentic.”

Rid’s eyes wandered over the table and eventually crossed Icid’s. She attempted to return his gaze with a warm smile, like Rowan always did.

Alas, it seemed she had the technique not quite mastered and slight blush formed on Rid fleshy nose. He tried to return the smile, but had obvious trouble knowing in what pair of Icid's eyes he should look. After a moment or two looked away embarrassed. He seemed like a good kid, shy but honest.

Then Revvel’s voice rang out like a hand full of broken glass.

“What do you mean furball? Don’t tell me you believe these two. They are obviously up to no good.”

Rid sunk into his chair and he looked away from Revvel’s gaze. An annoyed click escaped from Icid’s mandibles and before she could stop herself words had spilled out of her mouth.

“I don’t think he needs a birdbrain to decide what he thinks, he seems smart enough himself.”

Icid knew she had poked the bear too hard the second she closed her mouth. White hot rage seemed to be spilling out of Revvel’s eyes so densely she could almost see it crystallise into physical reality.

“Keep your mouth shut, you filthy insect.”

Icid narrowly managed to suppress giving the obvious response to that statement. But someone else at the table else turned out to be unable to restrain their ‘well actually’ habit as much.

“Well Revvel, spiders aren’t actually insects. They are arthropods, insects don’t have eigh-”

“Mouth… shut… Furball.”

Rid sunk deeper into his chair at the venom coated words.

“It does not matter if she is an insect or not. What counts is that I will not let myself be insulted by such a digesting, creepy and putrid creature. Besides, those spider things are an exalted rarity race. What kind of person spent the money to roll ‘that’ when they have the option of picking an elf?

A fat ugly perverted male nerd with a disgusting fetish for spiders, that is who!”

Icid started blankly into Revvel’s eyes.

“You think I am a man?”

“I know you are.”

For a while, Icid was so flabbergasted that all she managed to say was “Oh”.

“Ha, told you it was a man!

It became so shocked that its little ploy got found out that it cannot even come up with more lies to defend itself.”

Rowan remained silent and did not react. Jack made a calm ‘who cares’ gesture. And half the veterans seemed to be spoiling for a fight while the other half wanted nothing to do with this.

Revvel's blood seemed to boil even hotter at the lack of righteous indignation and raised the stakes by another 50 Ƒ.

Rid folded and one of the veterans joined him after some self-deliberation. Icid was about to fold too when she noticed Rowan making some gestures with her hands. Normally, she would not have noticed. It was quite out of sight for everyone, tucked away under the table. But her rearmost eyes had been pointing sideways.

She had only two eyes that were actually any good, the others all suffered from a very short range. But those eyes did provide a very wide field of view and were very good at capturing raw motion. In a relaxed state, her eyes tended to spread to cover a large field of vision with her only actively moving the good pair.

But this looked absolutely horrifying. Eyes were not called the window to the soul for nothing. Any oddity inside them was additionally noticeable to humans. We are literally hardwired to observe them with special care.

Having a wide range of vision was probably very advantageous. But after looking at her reflection, she had decided it was so horrifying that is was a step too far. The creepy spider stalk she could live with, it at least had a sense of power behind it. But this was just sickening. So in normal situations, she forced all of them to stare at the same point.

Or so she thought, she must have been getting really tired.

This game was draining her energy by the minute and she must have started slipping at some point. Seemingly Rowan had noticed her wandering eyes and was making a motion indicating she should call. At this point, Icid had no idea where this game was going, what Rowans plan was, or why all this smoke and mirror stuff was necessary. All she could do was go along, so grudgingly she called.

After a while, Revvel rose from her seat, still not satisfied. She walked over to Jack and took the ring from the table.

“Say Mister Goodwill, if I remember correctly, you have greater appraisal skills, do you not? Shall we once and for all put an end to this discussion and confirm the ring’s legitimacy?”

She leaned into his back a bit, holding the ring in front of his face. Jack’s expression became that of a man between that of a man stuck between a rock and a hard place. You did not have to look at the moustachioed teddy bear for long to conclude he was an avid connoisseur of the female form.

And Revvel was a beauty worthy of attention. But he probably did not want to fuel the fires of this augment any further. He had invited these guests to the table, but it had turned into quite a mess.

Revvel leaned in a bit further and put an arm around his shoulders. After producing a strange muttering should, he reluctantly accepted the ring and started studying it.

…

“This is a marvellous piece indeed. A one of a kind creation to be sure. An apex of craftmanship, but an imitation nonetheless.”

He put back the ring allowing Rowan to return it to her pocket.

“You are just handing that back after all the lies and deception?!

These people are crooks, they will certainly attempt to swindle someone else with it.”

One of the veterans smacked the table in agreement.

“Yea, we should be throwing these people with the dustmites instead.”

The other veterans got ready to leap out of their seats. Rid sunk so deep into his chair he was now almost completely under the table, while Rowan reached for something in the shadows.

Icid turned her eyes toward Jack, whose word the table seemed to be waiting for.

“Now, now, let us not be hasty, Bob. If you remember correctly, they have never claimed the ring was real. Far from it, in fact, they have not even told us what it is.

It was us, not them, that decided it was a real Scha’vun ring. They also clearly stated they were not looking to sell the piece.

So unless you have a way of convincing the guards that owning a fake ring is a crime worth drowning someone over, you better not.

Now let us at least finish this game, so everyone can go their separate ways.”

The table remained cold for quite a while, and the remaining conversation was stilted. Luckily a barmaid walked by close enough for Rowan to place an order. Within a short amount of time the table was loaded with mugs of various alcohols and an assortment of smoked meats. Which improved the mood significantly.

At least for the veterans, who stuffed their faces from the word go. Rid and Jack joined in happily as they did not seem to mind the guests to start with. With that, the table’s atmosphere became a lot warmer.

Except for Revvel, who seemed to only be getting angrier as rest started to enjoy themselves. She slammed her hand on the table and raised the stakes with another 100 Ƒ, causing the two other veterans to begrudgingly withdrawal.

Rowan and Jack called immediately and Icid followed after she saw no further instructions.

Jack flipped over the final card, a queen of hearts. Everyone rustled with their cards for a moment, back Jack once again broke the silence first.

“What about we make this bet a little more interesting?”

Rowan tilted her head ever so slightly.

“What do you have in mind?”

“Let’s add that fake ring of yours to the pot. I am sure that Miss Revvel’s… excitement, could be quelled if she gets a chance to derive you of it.

And I will not lie. The ring fascinates me and I would be quite interested to add it to my collection of curiosities.”

“Ok, I see where you are going with this. But that gives us what you want. The question remains what you will put up in return.

Even a well-made fake can fetch a high price to the right buyer.”

“Why don’t name what you came in for, then?

Oh, don’t pretend you actually came here to get ‘the lay of the land’. You two have yet to ask a single question. Seemingly you have no interest in selling the ring as well. The reveal would have been handled far differently if you did.

Firstly you would have never approached a group like ours. Too many walks of life, too much different experiences, far too large a risk of the fake being found out.

Even if you mistook us for a homogeneous or fallible bunch, you would have given a proper marketing pitch first. Distance yourself from the fake object, make it seem you got it on accident and were looking to sell it cheap.

Yet you didn’t. You presented it with a cold open, a display of confidence. It was a business card, something that sticks in people’s minds.

So, what do you two actually want?”

Icid stared into Jack’s small eyes. The sudden leaps of logic were staggering. Where all Rowan’s old acquaintances like this?

The goat herself let out a soft chuckle.

“Well, I guess you got us cornered there. It is indeed true that we showed up with an intention other than having a nice chat. We need some work done of the… incorporeal kind, as you put it so nicely.

I guess that if you were to offer up your services against the ring we would get close to a balanced deal. That only leaves…”

Rowan eyed Revvel for a moment.

“Miss Revvel, to be honest, you have nothing to offer that I want. So we are going to have to settle with a blank favour on your end. I take it you are a person who is true to their word?”

Rosy lips formed into a lovely smile.

“Of course, I always keep my word. As long as it is reasonable, I am fine with betting a ‘small’ favour.”

Icid doubted that strongly. Scratch that, Icid knew that to be false. There is no way, a wormy princess like that cares for honesty.

“Excellent, then our bet set!”